All three wheat futures closed lower than the last report on December 20. Abundant world supplies and weakness in the corn market pushed futures to their lowest point since May 2012 on Thursday. Bargain buying on Friday helped notch the biggest daily gains in 11 weeks and put CBOT March back above $6.00/bu. But subdued commercial sales limited Friday's rally. CBOT closed 8 cents lower than December 20 at $6.06/bu, KCBT March fell 15 cents to $6.42/bu and MGEX dropped 25 cents to $6.25/bu. CBOT March corn fell 10 cents to $4.24/bu and CBOT January soybeans lost 50 cents to close at $12.89/bu. Increasing freight values due to extremely limited capacity, weather delays and a derailment in North Dakota have pushed basis levels higher, including a significant jump for HRS. For all of 2013 CBOT wheat declined 22%, KCBT wheat fell 23% and MGEX spring wheat declined 27%. It was the biggest annual decline in five years, pressured by rising global wheat inventories. The Rosario exchange in Argentina raised its forecast for the country's 2013/14 wheat production by 400,000 metric tons to 9.5 MMT. The Argentinian government's official production forecast is 8.0 MMT and USDA's forecast is 11.0 MMT.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly Export Sales Report, net sales of 248,500 MT for delivery during the 2013/2014 marketing year were down 58 percent from the previous week and 46 percent from the prior 4-week average and below trade expectations of 350,000 to 550,000 MT. Total known outstanding sales and accumulated exports of all classes of wheat for the 2013/14 marketing year, through December 26, 2013 were 24.5 million metric tons (MMT), 28 percent greater than last year's year-to-date total of 19.1 MMT. USDA forecasts 2013/14 U.S. wheat exports to reach 29.9 MMT. The Baltic Panamax Index fell 108 points since December 20 to 1,750. The US Dollar Index increased from 80.75 two weeks ago to 80.96.
